Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), directed by Walter Hill - 5/22/2018

[oildude]

Coming to Blu-ray on May 22, 2018 from Twilight Time.....

Geronimo: An American Legend (1993). This will be a limited edition of 3000 copies.

From director Walter Hill (The Driver, Hard Times, 48 Hrs, Wild Bill, Southern Comfort, and many more)

and starring:

Wes Studi, Jason Patric, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, and Matt Damon.

Music by Ry Cooder, whose memorable scores include Paris Texas, Crossroads, Alamo Bay, The Long Riders, and Southern Comfort.

Where to buy (or pre-order):

• Twilight Time website: http://www.twilighttimemovies.com

• Screen Archives Entertainment: http://www.screenarchives.com

Trailer

Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) trailer - YouTube

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Haven't seen this yet. One of the only Walter Hill films I haven't seen. Is it worth a blind buy for someone who is very finicky about blind buys?

[MJD64]

I've been looking forward to this debuting on Blu for a long time now (and thankfully, it's not on a Sony BD-R). I saw this opening day back in '93 and was quite impressed. This is one beautifully-shot film; Lloyd Ahern's anamorphic cinematography captures the expansive landscapes of Arizona and Utah to frequently stunning effect. Hill's frequent music collaborator Ry Cooder provides yet another memorable score and the cast is among the best Hill ever worked with; Studi, Patrick, Duvall, Hackman and Damon are all excellent and there are great character bits from Scott Wilson and an especially memorable encounter in a cantina with Stephen McHattie. Here's hoping TT provides some supplements for this underseen and vastly underrated film.

Not sure this is a safe blind buy MassiveMovieBuff. Geronimo is more of an elegiac western mourning the treatment of Native Americans in the westward expansion than the action thrill-rides Hill provided with The Warriors, Streets of Fire, Trespass, etc. (though it certainly has some standout action sequences). It's a more emotionally understated and contemplative work, with a less straightforward and driving narrative than the tightly-coiled storytelling of the aforementioned films.

[thatguamguy]

It's been playing on cable a lot in the last year, if you keep an eye out you can watch it, and then decide if it would've been worth blind buying.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

It's been playing on cable a lot in the last year, if you keep an eye out you can watch it, and then decide if it would've been worth blind buying.

I don't have cable. I'll see if it's available on amazon streaming for rent or see if the DVD is available to rent on netflix

[Raphdude]

Love this movie!!! Saw it in 70mm back in 1993!!! Day one!!

[Splatterpunk]

Originally Posted by MJD64

I've been looking forward to this debuting on Blu for a long time now (and thankfully, it's not on a Sony BD-R). I saw this opening day back in '93 and was quite impressed. This is one beautifully-shot film; Lloyd Ahern's anamorphic cinematography captures the expansive landscapes of Arizona and Utah to frequently stunning effect. Hill's frequent music collaborator Ry Cooder provides yet another memorable score and the cast is among the best Hill ever worked with; Studi, Patrick, Duvall, Hackman and Damon are all excellent and there are great character bits from Scott Wilson and an especially memorable encounter in a cantina with Stephen McHattie. Here's hoping TT provides some supplements for this underseen and vastly underrated film.

Not sure this is a safe blind buy MassiveMovieBuff. Geronimo is more of an elegiac western mourning the treatment of Native Americans in the westward expansion than the action thrill-rides Hill provided with The Warriors, Streets of Fire, Trespass, etc. (though it certainly has some standout action sequences). It's a more emotionally understated and contemplative work, with a less straightforward and driving narrative than the tightly-coiled storytelling of the aforementioned films.

Well, your description certainly made *me* want to blind buy it haha. Nicely done!

[trip66]

This is crazy. I was just looking up Deep Rising and forgot Wes Studi was in it. I was looking up his filmography and saw Geronimo. I remember wanting to see it when I was a kid, completely forgot about it until today, just looked up to see if it was on blu-ray, and bam!...Blu-ray thread started the very same day!

I will probably blind buy this!

[Fred Sliman]

Only recently discovered there was an import available and glad I waited for this. This leaves only three Walter Hills to go toward completion (at least region free collection-wise.)

[SeanJoyce]

An important release because, to my knowledge, it has never been available in widescreen for the home video market.

Geronimo is 2nd-tier Hill, which certainly isn't a bad thing. It wants to be a grand, sweeping epic about the injustices borne by Native Americans but doesn't quite pull it off. Hill's decision to tell the story through the eyes of Patric and Damon is ironic and misguided.

But as is always the case with Hill, you can count on a professional, well-made movie with great music and cinematography. Hackman and Duvall share a nice scene together.

All in all I'm excited to revisit this one via TT's Blu-ray release. There can never be enough Walter Hill available.

[TheOneWithThePrize]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

An important release because, to my knowledge, it has never been available in widescreen for the home video market.

Nope, it got a widescreen release on LD and DVD.


The DVD was one of Sony's flippers with widescreen on one side and the pan&scan on the other so most likely suffered the fate of many such discs and went P&S-only after the initial batch.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by TheOneWithThePrize

Nope, it got a widescreen release on LD and DVD.

[Show spoiler]

The DVD was one of Sony's flippers with widescreen on one side and the pan&scan on the other so most likely suffered the fate of many such discs and went P&S-only after the initial batch.

Yeah my DVD purchase of Geronimo led to a great deal of figuring and frustration. I have the stand-alone release that reads "widescreen" at the top while the disc inside is pan-and-scan. After digging around I saw that it had been made available as a double-feature on a couple of occasions, the accompanying movies being, presumably, widescreen.

I called Columbia Tri-Star and talked to a guy who said it had never been made available in widescreen. The resolution was to mail him my DVD promoting "widescreen" and they'd refund me.

I eventually concluded that it wasn't so much deliberate false advertising on their part as it was errant cluelessness by removing the one widescreen feature but keeping the label on the top.

...which brings us here. I was reasonably close in my assumption, wasn't aware there was ever a flipper available. Thanks for the clarification. In my particular case just finally owning the movie in its OAR after all that headache will be nice. Should give the guy a call back and see if I can still mail him my aberration of a DVD (which also shoehorns Damon's mug onto the original poster posted above.)

[ShellBeacher]

Went through some searching previously on this, myself, as I am a fan of the film and interested in Hollywood's treatment of Native Americans.

I eventually acquired a 2008 Sony Pictures 2-DVD double feature set (paired with 'Under Suspicion') -- this set indeed includes (or used to) a "widescreen" copy of Geronimo. Why "widescreen" in quotes? Because the packaging advertises it as "2:35 Anamorphic Widescreen"...but it's merely letterbox/squared in.

But all this is thankfully now moot...providing Twilight Time doesn't muck anything up (and they usually don't, right?)

[jarrod_inf]

IMO 90’s trailers don’t do their films justice. I’ll be picking this up for sure while I’m on my western kick.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

I called Columbia Tri-Star and talked to a guy who said it had never been made available in widescreen. The resolution was to mail him my DVD promoting "widescreen" and they'd refund me.

It's weird that this guy didn't know about the reissue, but yeah, Sony reissued a bunch of dual-sided discs as one-sided discs. A few of them, they kept the widescreen side, but for a lot of them they kept the fullscreen side. (I think it was just whichever one had been designated "Side A".) The really annoying thing was that they didn't change the SKUs, and often didn't adjust the cover art at all (as you saw). So if you wanted to be sure which version you were getting, you'd have to be able to examine the disc itself before purchase.

"The Cheap Detective" was done this way, and more recently was reissued by Sony in widescreen... but on a burned disc!

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

It's weird that this guy didn't know about the reissue, but yeah, Sony reissued a bunch of dual-sided discs as one-sided discs. A few of them, they kept the widescreen side, but for a lot of them they kept the fullscreen side. (I think it was just whichever one had been designated "Side A".) The really annoying thing was that they didn't change the SKUs, and often didn't adjust the cover art at all (as you saw). So if you wanted to be sure which version you were getting, you'd have to be able to examine the disc itself before purchase.

"The Cheap Detective" was done this way, and more recently was reissued by Sony in widescreen... but on a burned disc!

Yeah I recall this happening with several other movies...Hard Times, The Bear and Sniper being among them. Really irritating, but luckily I was able to snag the WS editions of all of those.

I'd be curious to hear what Hill's thoughts on Geronimo are. He's always been a very blunt and candid, if self-deprecating, individual. Hill is one of the few guys who's shown more than just a fleeting interest in preserving the western genre. Wish he'd return to it; cinema needs Walter Hill.

By the way, is it just me or does Tombstone feel like a Hill western?

[Billybodylan]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Haven't seen this yet. One of the only Walter Hill films I haven't seen. Is it worth a blind buy for someone who is very finicky about blind buys?

Cinematography alone is worth it. Incredibly beautiful looking. Plus, Robert Duval! Saw it in the theaters and have rewatched many times on the European widescreen DVD.

[Talal86]

I might check this out, I think it's on netflix

Extreme Prejudice needs a blu ray release

[Nickel-Eye]

So excited for this! I was completely enamored with westerns as a boy when this came out, saw it in the theater 3 times and listened to the soundtrack I owned on tape endlessly.

It's been probably over 2 decades since I've seen it, so this will be a real treat/day one purchase I can't wait for!

[Kamelot121]

Didn’t realise this had been released in France on Blu?